The mechanisms underlying the role of extracellular materials and cell surface components in the development of organ form during development will be investigated by (1) using an abundant source to isolate, purify and molecularly characterize the previously described neutral hyaluronidase, (2) determining whether the neutral hyaluronidase is an extracellular enzyme, (3) establishing the generality of the correlation between neutral hyaluronidase activity and morphogenetic events, and (4) investigating potential inhibitors of the neutral hyaluronidase in an attempt to define its function during development.